and they knew that boehner was going to be a dealmaker with the president. so even the hard liners may have read the election returns, and i think even the hard liners don't be responsible for a tax increase. >> not only boehner, even mcconnell. let me show you this, michelle. mcconnell and boehner had a different kind of sound, different tone today after the meeting. watch this. >> obviously the president won re-election. the republicans were basically unable to get any seats in the senate. more people voted for democrats in the house than republicans. why do you have any leverage whatsoever? >> there's a republican majority here in the house. the american people re-elected the republican majority. >> it's important to remember that in this case, the voters also re-elected a republican-controlled house last week. the fact is the government is organized no differently today than it was after the republican wave of 2010. >> now, listen to what they had to say today. >> tomorrow is speaker boehner's birthday. so for those of you who want -- >> i believe we're